Money and Finance - Experts and Resources

Can An Ex Modify An Alimony Agreement?

4 key facts you should know about alimony agreements

First Wives World received an inquiry from a reader who we’ll call “Paula” asking for help with her alimony dilemma. Her issues may apply to many of our readers, so as a non-practicing attorney and now a FWW blogger, I thought I’d offer some guidance.

The background: Paula’s husband left the marriage for a younger woman and asked for a divorce. She was served with divorce papers which didn’t provide for any support even though she had just been downsized out of her job and was living on unemployment compensation.

Paula asked her ex for some support and both agreed on a sum. But when her ex asked for how long, she said, “a few years.” First red flag: Her response wasn’t specific enough but her ex had his attorney revise the divorce papers to include alimony.

Selling The Marital Home

It was a roller coaster ride

In my last post, I mentioned that the legal aspects of my divorce had lingered, for lack of a better word, for seven years. I think First Wives World readers will have a better understanding of the obstacles I faced during those years with some background information.

Here's the thing: I wasn't the one who pursued the divorce. My ex- husband made that decision. Once he had made the decision, there was a paradigm shift in his brain and the man began to live in a parallel universe — one in which there is rational thought.

Why Even Wealthy Divorcees Need To Work

People often ask me how I define a wealthy divorcee. Simply put, I consider someone wealthy if she could live off the interest of her investments without touching principal or selling any assets.

In practical terms, living off of interest alone requires a nest egg that's at least 400 times your monthly expenses. For instance, if you need $20,000 a month after taxes to pay your bills you would require at least $8 million a year in principal, assuming your investment yielded around 5 percent a year, or $400,000. (After taxes, you'd be left with around $240,000 of that amount — assuming you paid around 40 percent in taxes — which would come to $20,000 a month).

But here's one thing I can assure you of: Not many people with $8 million on hand have the discipline to live on $20,000 per month.

What's more, even if you decided to live on $20,000 a month in the short term, over time special expenses and cost of living adjustments would push that figure higher. Further, as you got older and your life span shortened you might begin to spend some principal.